A dramatic greening of the Arctic over the past 30 years

A remarkable transformation in the vegetation of the Arctic has occurred over the past 30 years, according to a study of satellite data published on March 10, 2013, in Nature Climate Change. The authors found that Arctic vegetation growth and temperatures in 2011 resembled what occurred 250 - 430 miles farther to the south back in 1982. That's the approximate distance in latitude between San Francisco and San Diego, or Washington D.C. and Atlanta. More greening occurred in Eurasia than North America, and the Arctic's new greenness is visible on the ground as an increasing abundance of tall shrubs and trees. Large patches of vigorously productive vegetation now span a third of the northern landscape, an area about equal to the contiguous United States. "Higher northern latitudes are getting warmer, Arctic sea ice and the duration of snow cover are diminishing, the growing season is getting longer and plants are growing more," said co-author Dr. Ranga Myneni of Boston University's Department of Earth and Environment, in a NASA press release. "In the north's Arctic and boreal areas, the characteristics of the seasons are changing, leading to great disruptions for plants and related ecosystems." The changes in the Arctic's vegetation are being driven by human-caused global warming, which is occurring in the Arctic at more than double the rate of the rest of the planet. This so-called "Arctic amplification" is due, in part, to the increased melting of ice and snow near the pole. When ice and snow melt, they uncover darker surfaces underneath, which absorb more sunlight and increase Arctic temperatures in a vicious cycle which melts even more ice and snow. Using 17 climate models, the researchers predicted that a continuation of warming in the Arctic in coming decades could lead to over a 1300 mile latitudinal shift in Arctic vegetation zones by the year 2100, compared to the period 1951 - 1980. That's a distance greater than the north-south extent of the contiguous United States. However, more frequent forest fires, increased pest outbreaks, and summertime droughts due to a warming climate might slow down Arctic plant growth.

Figure 1. Of the 10 million square miles (26 million square kilometers) of northern vegetated lands, 34 to 41 percent showed increases in plant growth (green and blue), 3 to 5 percent showed decreases in plant growth (orange and red), and 51 to 62 percent showed no changes (yellow) over the past 30 years. Satellite data in this visualization are from AVHRR and MODIS. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

CommentaryOne often hears complaints that global warming may be greatly overestimated, due to many temperature sensors being located in increasingly urbanized areas where local "urban heat island" effects are not being properly considered. If this were true (and it isn't), then we would not expect to see "nature's thermometers"--plants and animals--change their behavior and ranges much. But plants and animals are responding in major ways to the warming climate, and the greening of the Arctic is merely one more example of "nature's thermometers" telling us that the planet is warming significantly. Some other examples:

Fall is falling back: During 1982 to 1999, the end of the growing season was delayed by 4.3 days in the Northern Hemisphere. During 2000 to 2008, the end of the growing season was further delayed by an additional 2.3 days. In the U.S., fall now occurs ten days later than it did 30 years ago.

Spring is springing forward: Spring events, like bird and butterfly migrations, flower blooming times, and frog mating, have been advancing by about three days per decade over the past 30 years.

Animals are changing migration patterns: New species have colonized previously ‘cool’ regions, including sea anemones in Monterey Bay, and lichens and butterflies in Europe. Over the past 50 years, maximum range shifts vary from 200 km (butterflies) to 1,000 km (marine copepods).

Dr. Myneni's petition to protect Earth from climate changeProfessor Myneni of Boston University's Department of Earth & Environment, co-author of the greening Arctic study, has developed a simple one-sentence petition that he hopes one billion people will sign by Earth Day, 2014:

Dear Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon,

We, the People of the Earth, request You to act judiciously and expeditiously to protect the Earth from anthropogenic climate change.

Sorry .. but still hopeful that you will get a bit more rain over the next few days

Actually, we are used to very little rain until June. I have trained my plants to grow on watering once a week. That is summer and winter. And I never water anything in the ground. Since we are three feet above sea level, there is a lens of brackish water plants tap into. We are lucky to have our water pipeline that runs down the length of the keys 150 miles. It taps into the Biscayne acquifer. I hope we get some rain as well, but as long as it lands on the mainland, we will be fine.

Quoting nymore:You said one can not change to another in an earlier post. I did not say anything about it happening overnight. In fact I gave no timeline at all. It seems according to the report that in fact one species can change into another.

Actually- the report is a bit misleading. The report says there was interbreeding. Interbreeding does not lead to one thing changing into another- it leads to offspring carrying the genes of both parents. This is Bio 101 and hardly worth repeating.

Quoting goosegirl1:***At the end of the last ice age, a population of polar bears was stranded by the receding ice on a few islands in southeastern Alaska. Male brown bears swam across to the islands from the Alaskan mainland and mated with female polar bears, eventually transforming the polar bear population into brown bears***

This is the first paragraph of your link, and says just what I did- they interbred. They didn't spontaneously change just because they swam to an island.

You said one can not change to another in an earlier post. I did not say anything about it happening overnight. In fact I gave no timeline at all. It seems according to the report that in fact one species can change into another.

Look up the word "Phenotype" and in particular as it regards plant species.

Further, just to be a jackass, a caterpillar and a butterfly have almost nothing in common in morphology, yet they are simply different life stages of the same creature with the same DNA.

Oh yeah, midgets and giants can both impregnate the same woman.

And you are saying what, exactly? I am fully aware of the definition of phenotype- phenotype can be defined as "what you see" and geneotype as "what you are." Your phenetype is determined by the genes you carry, and what you (you meaning any organism) need to pass those genes down to another generation. What exactly are you getting at?

Quoting kwgirl: Do you know where I am located on that map? I am out to sea and not even visible on the map you posted. I am 150 miles southwest of miami and 90 miles north of Cuba. We are very arid here.

I didnt stop to think how far south you are !

Sorry .. but still hopeful that you will get a bit more rain over the next few days

I think that cloud area in Texas is moving towards the Gulf ! But I am an optimist :)

Do you know where I am located on that map? I am out to sea and not even visible on the map you posted. I am 150 miles southwest of miami and 90 miles north of Cuba. We are very arid here. Edit: Except when it is humid!

***At the end of the last ice age, a population of polar bears was stranded by the receding ice on a few islands in southeastern Alaska. Male brown bears swam across to the islands from the Alaskan mainland and mated with female polar bears, eventually transforming the polar bear population into brown bears***

This is the first paragraph of your link, and says just what I did- they interbred. They didn't spontaneously change just because they swam to an island.

Quoting kwgirl: Yes PBW, without wind they make some nice dents. I always had to move my car from under it for a storm. And I still have dings from late night squalls moving through. But you can't beat the shade and the home it provides the critters. In fact, I have three saplings from that tree in pots in my yard. I am looking for the right place to plant them.

kw...I have a gigantic Staghorn hanging from mine... The ants have a heyday.

Quoting PalmBeachWeather:kwgirl... I have a beautiful Mahogany tree in my front yard that I planted many years ago... It has been stripped and broken from 3 hurricanes but is still looking beautiful... Just a note to those thinking of planting a Mahogany... Do not plant one close to your driveway... The freekin' seeds are big and as hard as a rock... Leaving a dent in any vehicle parked near.

Yes PBW, without wind they make some nice dents. I always had to move my car from under it for a storm. And I still have dings from late night squalls moving through. But you can't beat the shade and the home it provides the critters. In fact, I have three saplings from that tree in pots in my yard. I am looking for the right place to plant them.

Quoting LargoFl:lil by lil the forecast for rains in florida are changing today..dry air has gotten into florida..my guess is the strong and severe warnings will be taken out of the forecast..radar doesnt show any storms just yet for us.

Cap in place but will break tonight and storms will fire quickly and it looks like CROW maybe waiting for you.

.SHORT TERM (TONIGHT-THURSDAY)...THE UPPER JET REMAINS IN PLACE ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA WITH ZONAL FLOWAT THE MID LEVELS STREAMING MULTIPLE VORTICIES OVER THE AREA. AT THESURFACE...WEAK LOW PRESSURE IS IN PLACE ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA WITH ACOLD FRONT PUSHING THROUGH THE CENTRAL FLORIDA PANHANDLE JUST TO THENW OF THE AREA. ALL OF THIS COMBINED WITH THE DEEP MOISTURE THROUGHTHE COLUMN...DAYTIME HEATING...AND AN AFTERNOON SEABREEZE WILL ALLOWFOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE BEST CHANCESINLAND AND NORTH THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE FRONT WILL SETTLEINTO THE NORTHERN ZONES LATER TONIGHT AND BRING MORE SHOWERS ANDSTORM ACTIVITY MAINLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE AREA. THEN FORWEDNESDAY WITH THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY DRAPED ACROSS THEAREA...SECONDARY LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE GULF AND MOVEALONG THE BOUNDARY ACROSS THE STATE TO OVER THE ATLANTIC AS ANOTHERUPPER DISTURBANCE MOVES OVER THE AREA ALLOWING FOR SCATTERED TONUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...A FEW STORMS MAY BE STRONG. ASTHE LOW LIFTS OUT TO THE NE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...THE COLD FRONT WILLSINK SOUTH OF THE AREA AND COOLER AND DRIER HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILDINTO THE REGION. DRY HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN CONTINUE ACROSS THEAREA FOR THURSDAY WITH A FEW HOURS OF CRITICAL RELATIVE HUMIDITYVALUES POSSIBLY CAUSING SOME FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS. TEMPERATURESTONIGHT WILL BE GENERALLY IN THE 60S WITH HIGHS WEDNESDAY IN THE MID70S NORTH TO LOWER 80S SOUTH AHEAD OF THE FRONT. THEN FOR WEDNESDAYNIGHT AS THE COOLER AIR STARTS TO ADVECT INTO THE AREA...LOWS WILLFALL INTO THE 40S NORTH...LOWER TO MID 50S CENTRAL...AND UPPER 50STO LOWER 60S SOUTH. HIGHS WEDNESDAY WILL BE IN THE MID 60S NORTH TOTHE MID 70S SOUTH

Quoting nymore:Bears will eat whatever is available, no matter the species. How are you going to miss Polar Bears, by the time any of this will come to pass or not, you will be nothing but worm food.

Polar bears evolved to take advantage of marine mammals as a source of food and do not normally consume large amounts of plant food like other species of bear. They are more specialized to their environment and food source- and thus were classified as "threatened" due to habitat pressure.

Lucky for me, I don't have to be smart enough to judge which species can be removed from the Earth's biosphere :) I'd just as soon share the resources and preserve them all. Unfortunately- humans are a clever, exploitive bunch and it's much easier for us to reproduce that it used to be. We are fully capable of both exceeding the carrying capacity of the earth, and of making discoveries to increase that capacity whether other inhabitants of the planet benefit or not.

Quoting kwgirl: I just went to the radar for the keys and the green is south of us. I think our unusual rain event is over. We really don't get much rain until rainy season starts June 1, as you know:)

Quoting kwgirl: That's why i like you Largo, because you like trees. A person after my own heart. I still drive by my old house and say hello to the mahogony tree.

On a side note, speaking of paying higher taxes, NASA is in front of congress saying they need billions to identify near earth asteroids. With the hope of developing something to counter an earth bound object.

kwgirl... I have a beautiful Mahogany tree in my front yard that I planted many years ago... It has been stripped and broken from 3 hurricanes but is still looking beautiful... Just a note to those thinking of planting a Mahogany... Do not plant one close to your driveway... The freekin' seeds are big and as hard as a rock... Leaving a dent in any vehicle parked near.

Quoting kwgirl: I just went to the radar for the keys and the green is south of us. I think our unusual rain event is over. We really don't get much rain until rainy season starts June 1, as you know:)

yes i think things weather wise have changed, lets see what happens if that front does indeed make it to us in the days to come..might get some showers with it.

Quoting georgia325:My dad has been actually trying to create something to harness the power of magnets. He's been working on it for a while, obviously not perfected yet. But the premise is to use magnets to create energy to light a light bulb. He has them working against each other like pistons I guess is what you would consider them. Hopefully someone can figure out how to do it eventually.

Experts know things like this can work...the problem is companies and people can't get rich off of it since it's free energy out of thin air. No profits, means not in mans interest.

Quoting LargoFl:Whether you plant trees around your home and property, in your community, or in our national forests, they help fight climate change. Through the natural process of photosynthesis, trees absorb CO2 and other pollutant particulates, then store the carbon and emit pure oxygen...............and this goes on and on..if your really truly concerned about global warming and climate change..do something about it..I have and you can too..arguing about global warming on here is useless..do something constructive and Real.

well, you started the discussion that led to the arguments..the topic of GW and climate change always lead to heated bantors and rejected coke commercials polar bears..

Quoting LargoFl:lil by lil the forecast for rains in florida are changing today..dry air has gotten into florida..my guess is the strong and severe warnings will be taken out of the forecast..radar doesnt show any storms just yet for us.

I just went to the radar for the keys and the green is south of us. I think our unusual rain event is over. We really don't get much rain until rainy season starts June 1, as you know:)

Quoting nymore:Polar bears will just revert back to being brown bears, much as humans are doing now with the races becoming more mixed. No one is really sure how polar bears came to break away from brown bears but it is well known brown bears and polar bears can breed successfully.

Woah, hold on there. Races are not species. Race is a socially constructed category. There are no, repeat no biological factors to distinguish "race".

Quoting LargoFl:LOL the pro's and cons are great here today..my one piece of advice to everyone..IF you ARE really concerned about global warming..and im sincere about this...Plant a tree...ive planted 6 and many other kinds of plant life, things that shade the earth, things that filter the very air we breathe....ok so global warming is true..what have YOU done?....each of us are only one person and can only do so much..IF global warming is so important to you..what have you done about it?

Just so you won't think I did a duck-and-run -

I'm fairly new to understanding the seriousness of the problem, but I've been doing a lot of little things for a long time (recycle, drive less, keep my car in good condition, buy less, buy locally produced food when I can, carry reusable bags, keep my thermostat low in winter and high in summer - the piano tuner scolded me last year because the house was too warm and humid in his opinion for the good of the piano), and I'm trying to educate myself about global warming so I figure out what other actions to take and what organizations to support.

lil by lil the forecast for rains in florida are changing today..dry air has gotten into florida..my guess is the strong and severe warnings will be taken out of the forecast..radar doesnt show any storms just yet for us.

(1) By the time that happens, humanity will probably be back to hunter-gatherer status because of our failure to deal with global warming, so you don't need to worry about it.

(2) And what about that meteor that's going to hit Earth in 40,000 years or so?

Geez, Largo, I thought you were going to say "Now, what are we going to do about it (global warming)?" and then a whole bunch of us were going to stand up from our computers and cheer and say "YES!!! That's the question we should all be addressing."

The Chinese and Japanese have no laws against human genetic engineering. This means they may make test tube babies which turn out to be vastly superior to most of us. They may even be weird enough to try to engineer a "Brain Trust" like in Marvel comics, or the Illithid in D&D.

Humans may be given gills and butterfly wings and such.

Not likely?

Already, geneticists even in the U.S. have engineered sugar cane with human proteins in it for the medical industry. Imagine when they start growing ORGANS on plants, for replacement in human beings, but cannibals from Africa start a black market for stealing them to eat them!

Quoting RitaEvac:And if I was Google that is developing the driver less car, I would be looking into the magnetic field to run them free of energy.

My dad has been actually trying to create something to harness the power of magnets. He's been working on it for a while, obviously not perfected yet. But the premise is to use magnets to create energy to light a light bulb. He has them working against each other like pistons I guess is what you would consider them. Hopefully someone can figure out how to do it eventually.

Quoting kwgirl: That's why i like you Largo, because you like trees. A person after my own heart. I still drive by my old house and say hello to the mahogony tree.

On a side note, speaking of paying higher taxes, NASA is in front of congress saying they need billions to identify near earth asteroids. With the hope of developing something to counter an earth bound object.

I also love the way he posted invaluable weather information.. and is concerned for peoples welfare when events are unfolding !

That's why i like you Largo, because you like trees. A person after my own heart. I still drive by my old house and say hello to the mahogony tree.

On a side note, speaking of paying higher taxes, NASA is in front of congress saying they need billions to identify near earth asteroids. With the hope of developing something to counter an earth bound object.

Quoting LargoFl:LOL the pro's and cons are great here today..my one piece of advice to everyone..IF you ARE really concerned about global warming..and im sincere about this...Plant a tree...ive planted 6 and many other kinds of plant life, things that shade the earth, things that filter the very air we breathe....ok so global warming is true..what have YOU done?....each of us are only one person and can only do so much..IF global warming is so important to you..what have you done about it?

Good work and a great sense of awareness of that being ecologically sound is just the smart thing to do regardless of your thoughts on AGW. You take joy in doing what you feel is necessary to improve your life and the ecology of your little area of the world at the same time. Helping to mitigate AGW, on an individual basis, can be self rewarding even if the intent was not geared towards mitigating the AGW itself. ... Sometimes we can accomplish great things, and purely by accident.

Whether you plant trees around your home and property, in your community, or in our national forests, they help fight climate change. Through the natural process of photosynthesis, trees absorb CO2 and other pollutant particulates, then store the carbon and emit pure oxygen...............and this goes on and on..if your really truly concerned about global warming and climate change..do something about it..I have and you can too..arguing about global warming on here is useless..do something constructive and Real.

Quoting nymore: Bears will eat whatever is available, no matter the species. How are you going to miss Polar Bears, by the time any of this will come to pass or not, you will be nothing but worm food.

Wikipedia - "When sea ice is unavailable during summer and early autumn, some populations live off fat reserves for months at a time. Polar bears have also been observed to eat a wide variety of other wild foods, including muskox, reindeer, birds, eggs, rodents, shellfish, crabs, and other polar bears. They may also eat plants, including berries, roots, and kelp, however none of these are a significant part of their diet. The polar bear's biology is specialized to require large amounts of fat from marine mammals, and it cannot derive sufficient caloric intake from terrestrial food."

I knew they would eat anything they find in a garbage dump because I've been to Churchill, Manitoba, but I didn't realize they would eat plants like a grizzly. That last sentence explains why the loss of sea ice and of ability to hunt marine mammals will be so damaging to the polar bear population.

Scientists confirmed last week that a bear shot by an Inuvialuit hunter in the Northwest Territories is a second-generation grizzly-polar bear hybrid—a "pizzly" or "grolar" bear. Why can some interbreeding species produce fertile offspring, while others—like horses and donkeys—cannot?

Because they have more recent common ancestry.

[much more at link]

You will notice I did not say they could not interbreed. It is well documented that they can, and have been.

I was pointing out that humans do not come in different concurrent species at the present, although they once did.

And take note- there are no Neanderthals left alive today, but some of us may carry their genes

I respect Dr. Masters for posting the studies and research that show the climate is warming/changing.

1st and overriding priority should be preparing for the ramifications. 2nd priority would be stopping and/or reversing the warming. Money and resources should be appropriated in that order. Why?

* We know that our climate has cooled and warmed in the past, without our industrial involvement, including the sea levels rising and falling.Ancient Cypress Forest Off Ala. Coast"The ancient forest found 60 feet underwater about 10 miles offshore of Alabama... Paleontologists ... speculated the trees were between 8,000 and 12,000 years old, based on the present depth where the forest is located and the distance from shore. Those dates fit nicely with Gulf Coast sea levels during the most recent ice age. ... And, it provides evidence that coastal Alabama has risen between 60 and 120 feet in the last 50,000 years."

* We are trying to understand what is happening now, and the causes, as we are experiencing it. Isn't that like trying to figure out how to save yourself from a Tornado or Hurricane the 1st time you are in it? Hmmm, I am not liking the odds of success right now. Lots of studies, theories, gathering evidence, but no successes that I see. Even the various existing models vary widely on the effects (learned that watching the videos KEEPER posted.)

* Even if we figure out the cause, more so an effective way to reverse the effects...what are the odds of getting the nations of the world singing Kumbaya, and working together to achieve it? Too many competing interests. Nice vision, but lets be practical.

Preparation! If you really believe Miami will be under water in 100 years, we gotta get moving!

LOL the pro's and cons are great here today..my one piece of advice to everyone..IF you ARE really concerned about global warming..and im sincere about this...Plant a tree...ive planted 6 and many other kinds of plant life, things that shade the earth, things that filter the very air we breathe....ok so global warming is true..what have YOU done?....each of us are only one person and can only do so much..IF global warming is so important to you..what have you done about it?

We start with what is the most pressing threat to life as we have become acclimated to. Currently, this is AGW. Should we discover next week that a global killing meteor was going to strike our planet in another 6 months then AGW is quickly placed on the back burner and the focus is placed on large, titanium umbrellas for everyone.